Irish actor Liam Cunningham is at the heart of the political intrigue in Game of Thrones, starring as Ser Davos Seaworth, trusted adviser to Stannis Baratheon in his bid to claim the Iron Throne and seize control of Westeros.
What position does Ser Davos find himself in at the beginning of season five?
For once, the boys are on a bit of an up. Season four has provided us with finances through the Bank of Braavos and we finally found ourselves in liquidity. We’ve used the money to get ourselves an army, although a hired one.
Stannis is a proven battle commander and has used his wily ways to do a severe pincer movement on the Wildlings, save Jon Snow and capture Mance Rayder. So we find Team Dragonstone at the start of season five in what is for them a luxurious position – they actually have a bit of power and have routed the “enemy”, in inverted commas. Where we go from there is pretty logical, I think. An attempt to get Stannis on to the throne now seems like a real possibility and we start off season five on that route.
What is Davos’s position under Stannis now? Does he have more power?
Davos would never think of it in terms of victories or of spoils – there’s a job to be done. I think his battle is keeping Stannis on the right track. He’s not a military man, but you can well imagine that as the series progresses he’s going to come up against it and specifically because of the Red Woman [Melisandre]. And, without giving anything away, this comes to a very, very serious and dramatic conclusion – maybe we shouldn’t use the word conclusion – a dramatic head, later on in the series, which is extraordinary.
Do you think Game of Thrones has relevance to the current political scene?
Yes, that’s one of the things that makes it so great. I mean, some of these stories in this season, you just change the name of the characters to certain politicians that we see around at the minute, and it’s real life. You can see these guys who, I assume, go into politics and business and all these sort of things for the right reasons – they want to get on, they want to make a few quid and they want to make an impression and leave a legacy. However, when you play the game, what you need to do to stay where you want to be can destroy the very reason why you wanted to do it in the first place. The “means to an end” thing is what destroys men’s souls.
What has filming been like for you this year?
We spend a lot of time in pop-up gazebos and hunched round a Calor gas fire, eating our lunch out of plastic boxes. Shooting’s a little rough because it’s a huge thing and we shoot in rough areas – we shoot in muck and snow. I’m always in Northern Ireland so there’s a bit of rain. It’s not always delightfully warm, but it doesn’t really matter, because the landscape is a huge character in the series.
Which types of scene do you enjoy the most?
The dressing up and running around is the kind of stuff that gives texture and tone to the episode, but it’s really for the director. Actors in those scenes are, in the very best sense, marionettes, chess pieces being moved around, and that’s fine – I love the technical aspect of making this and I love seeing the scope of it.To be in a scene where the entire future of team Dragonstone and Stannis is in the room, that’s where brilliant writing comes in. That’s the joy for me, to be playing that and knowing you don’t have to drag performances out of other people, or yourself, because the people in the room are just amazing.
When a character is killed, does the cast do a special send-off?
Listen, there are deaths every year, so I’m not giving anything away saying it’s horrific when you’ve spent time with people, and then they’re gone.
We do have drinks – it’s Ireland, I think it’s the law. It’s horrible when people go and it sort of feels wrong. A little bit has been stolen from you, because we’re part of this weird thing that we all find ourselves in.
